11th Annual Palo Alto Weekly Photo Contest
Honorable Mention, Views Beyond the Peninsula
"Blue Who? Haiti Today
Gone Tomorrow"
By Randy Mont-Reynaud
About Randy Mont-Reynaud
Mont-Reynaud became more interested in photography when her son
won a Weekly Photo Contest Youth Award, several years ago.
"I'm always interested in what my kids are doing,"
she said. "Even though I've been taking photographs for a
really long time, ever since the kids were little."
Last year Mont-Reynaud visited rural Haiti, where she took this
picture with a point-and-shoot camera that cost less than $200.
"The girl in the photo is nine years old; she's the granddaughter of Minnik," said Mont-Reynaud.
"They're a very well-to-do peasant family, and the little
girl and her brother like to make toys out of Coca-Cola bottle
caps . . . Here you are, at 1,000-foot elevation, there's no water
but there's Coca-Cola because it's cheaper than water."
Mentioning the colors of the picture, Mont-Reynaud said "that's
the Caribbean blue that you see all over Haiti, to the extent
that they have paint."
"It symbolizes the future of Haiti: here today gone tomorrow.
The people of Haiti are hanging on by tooth and claw."
A country that once led world production of baseballs, Haiti is the "most amazing place," she said.
"There's no electricity, there's no water, there's no food."
-- Daniel Velton
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